The need for having a thinner and stiffer base for imaging products is well recognized. In addition to providing cost advantage, thinner supports can fulfill many other criteria. For example, in motion picture and related entertainment industry, thinner photographic base allows for longer film footage for the same sized reels. However, a reduction in thickness of the base typically results in a reduction in stiffness, which can have detrimental effects in terms of curl, transport, and durability. For display materials, such as photographic papers, it is desirable that the paper be light in weight and flexible for some applications. For instance, when the photographs must be mailed or used as a laminating material, it is desirable that the materials be light in weight. When stored in albums, reduced thickness of the paper will minimize undesirable bulk. For some uses such as for stand up display and to convey a sense of value, it is desirable that the photographs have a heavy stiff feel. It would be desirable if photographic materials could be easily produced with a variety of stiffness and caliper characteristics so that a variety of consumer desires could be easily met. Present materials have a limited ability to be varied as the thickness of the base paper and the thickness of the resin-coating on the paper are the only factors that can be varied easily. Further the cost of forming stiff paper is substantial as increase—in the amount of resin and in the thickness of paper, and/or selection of a stiffer resin and paper are expensive. In addition, the increases or decreases in caliper that are required for papers of increased or decreased stiffness lead to difficulties in handling in processing machines for formation of the photosensitive layers and in development after exposure.
It has been proposed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,244,861 to utilize biaxially oriented polypropylene in receiver sheets for thermal dye transfer. It has been proposed in U.S. Pat Nos. 5,866,282; 5,874,205; 5,888,643; 5,888,683 to utilize biaxially oriented polyolefin sheets for photographic supports through lamination on to a paper base.
Still there is a need in the industry to develop suitable imaging materials which can be conveniently and economically incorporated in imaging supports with appreciable improvement in stiffness, so that thinner caliper can be achieved without sacrificing any desirable characteristics of the support.
Recently, nanocomposite materials prepared using smectite clays have received considerable interest from industrial sectors, such as the automotive industry and the packaging industry, for their unique physical properties. These properties include improved heat distortion characteristics, barrier properties, and mechanical properties. The related prior art is illustrated in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,739,007; 4,810,734; 4,894,411; 5,102,948; 5,164,440; 5,164,460; 5,248,720, 5,854,326, 6,034,163. However, the use of these nanocomposites in imaging materials for stiffer and thinner support has not been recognized.
In order to obtain stiffer polymeric supports using smectite clays, the clays need to be intercalated or exfoliated in the polymer matrix. There has been a considerable effort put towards developing methods to intercalate the smectite clays and then compatibilize with thermoplastic polymer matrix. This is because the clay host lattice is hydrophilic, and it must be chemically modified to make the platelet surfaces organophilic in order to allow it to be incorporated in the polymer matrices. To obtain the desired polymer property enhancements, all the intercalation techniques developed so far are batch processes, time consuming and lead to increasing the overall product cost. There are two major intercalation approaches that are generally used—intercalation of a suitable monomer followed by polymerization (known as in-situ polymerization, see A. Okada et. Al., Polym Prep. Vol. 28, 447, 1987) or monomer/polymer intercalation from solution. Polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) and polyethylene oxide (PEO) have been used to intercalate the clay platelets with marginal success. As described by Levy et. al, in “Interlayer adsorption of polyvinylpyrrolidone on montmorillonite”, Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, Vol 50 (3), 442, 1975, attempts were made to sorb PVP between the monoionic montmorillonite clay platelets by successive washes with absolute ethanol, and then attempting to sorb the PVP by contacting it with 1% PVP/ethanol/water solutions, with varying amounts of water. Only the Na-montmorillonite expanded beyond 20 Å basal spacing, after contacting with PVP/ethanol/water solution. The work by Greenland, “Adsorption of polyvinyl alcohol by montmorrilonite”, Journal of Colloid Science, Vol. 18, 647-664 (1963) discloses that sorption of PVA on the montmorrilonite was dependent on the concentration of PVA in the solution. It was found that sorption was effective only at polymer concentrations of the order of 1% by weight of the polymer. No further effort was made towards commercialization since it would be limited by the drying of the dilute intercalated layered materials. In a recent work by Richard Vaia et.al., “New Polymer Electrolyte Nanocomposites: Melt intercalation of polyethyleneoxide in mica type silicates”, Adv. Materials, 7(2), 154-156, 1995, PEO was intercalated into Na-montmorillonite and Li-montmorillonite by heating to 80° C. for 2-6 hours to achieve a d-spacing of 17.7 Å. The extent of intercalation observed was identical to that obtained from solution (V. Mehrotra, E. P. Giannelis, Solid State Commun., 77, 155, 1991). Other, recent work (U.S. Pat. No. 5,804,613) has dealt with sorption of monomeric organic compounds having at least one carbonyl functionality selected from a group consisting of carboxylic acids and salts thereof, polycarboxylic acids and salts thereof, aldehydes, ketones and mixtures thereof. Similarly U.S. Pat. No. 5,880,197 discusses the use of an intercalant monomer that contains an amine or amide functionality or mixtures thereof. In both these patents and other patents issued to the same group the intercalation is performed at very dilute clay concentrations in an intercalant carrier like water. This leads to a necessary and costly drying step, prior to intercalates being dispersed in a polymer. Disclosed in WO 93/04118 is the intercalation process based on adsorption of a silane coupling agent or an onium cation such as a quaternary ammonium compound having a reactive group that is compatible with the matrix polymer.
There are difficulties in intercalating and dispersing smectite clays in thermoplastic polymers. This invention provides a technique to overcome this problem. It also provides an article with improved dispersion of smectite clays that can be incorporated in a web.